This invention relates to a method of setting hair which produces hair that retains, for an extended period, a desired configuration imposed on it by means of curlers, pins or other hair styling vehicles. More specifically, the invention relates to a method of setting hair employing a hair setting composition containing as an effective component an aminoalkyl substituted polydiorganosiloxane.
Many popular hair styles require a means to hold the hair in a desired configuration. Several procedures are commonly used for setting hair styles at home and in beauty salons including, for example, the winding of wetted hair around curlers or rods followed by drying; the winding of moist hair around a hot curling iron; and the blow drying of wet hair while rolling the hair around a hand held brush. It is generally recognized that the physical and chemical action of water plays a significant role in the process of setting hair. When hair is wetted, hydrogen bonds in the keratin of hair are broken. Then when hair is shaped using curlers, irons, or brush and dried, hydrogen bonds are reformed at locations different from the previous ones and the hair style is thus set.
When hair is set by the use of water alone, the hair style gradually loses its shape through the absorption of atmospheric moisture and consequent rearrangement of the hydrogen bonds. A considerable number of hair setting compositions have been suggested to facilitate the setting of hair styles and especially to extend the time period that the set is retained in the hair. Such compositions range from the permanent wave types which operate chemically by breaking and reforming disulfide linkages in the hair protein to preparations which leave a thin layer of film-forming resin on the hair which when dried tends to mechanically maintain the hair in the shape of the dried resin film. Generally, the filmforming resin preparations have been composed of water or alcohol solutions of anionic polymers such as polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinylpyrrolidone-vinylacetate copolymers, polymethacrylate resins, ethyl and butyl monoesters of polymethylvinyl ether and maleic acid, or carboxylated polyvinylacetate copolymers.
While the film-forming resin preparations do improve the length of set retention in hair, it has generally been found that the stiff resin film tends to make the hair objectionably sticky and to produce flaky or linty particles on the hair as the film breaks up during combing or brushing. Moreover, because of the hydrophilic nature of the resins, they are removed from the hair with each shampooing and must be continually reapplied to be effective. The sticky character of the resin films also makes the coated hair difficult to comb or brush and may result in damaging or breaking hairs during such operations.
On the other hand, organic cationic compounds and polymers such as stearyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride, quaternary nitrogen derivatives of cellulose ethers, and homopolymers and copolymers of dimethyldiallylammonium chloride are well known for use in hair conditioning formulations. Hair conditioners facilitate combing out hair and impart softness and suppleness to the hair. Cationic polymers are further known in the art for their substantivity which enables them to become fixed to hair and to remain on hair. However, the conventional cationics generally show little or no effect in facilitating the setting of hair styles or providing retention of hair sets over extended periods.
Accordingly, it is a purpose of the present invention to provide an improved method of setting hair using a hair fixative composition that conditions the hair; is substantive and fixed to the hair; facilitates the setting of hair styles; increases the length of time that the set is retained in the hair; and does not make the hair feel unnaturally sticky or stiff.
It is taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,643,375 and 2,750,947 to treat hair with a thermosettable organosilicon resin which is then heat cured while positioning the hair in a desired arrangement. In a related vein, it's taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,782,790, 2,787,274, and 2,840,087 to treat hair with a hydrolyzed or hydrolyzable alkoxyorganosilane solution which by silanol condensation forms a cured resin layer on the hair and physically holds a set in the hair. To obtain a more convenient cure, it is taught in an article entitled "New Types of Hair Setting Sprays having Semi-Permanent Properties" authored by Fulvio Sardo in Volume 87, American Cosmetics and Perfumery, pages 43-46 (December 1972), to employ a mixture of silanol endblocked dimethylpolysiloxane and a tetraalkyltitanate. This mixture cures by reaction with water when applied to the hair.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,763, Tolgyesi et al. teaches a method of setting hair using a setting composition containing aminoalkyltrialkoxysilane and tetraalkyltitanante. When the composition is applied to wet hair, the alkoxysilane groups hydrolyze forming reactive silanol intermediates which condense in combination with the titanate. The resulting titanate cured siloxane coating is said to provide high set holding capability even at high humidity.
U.S. application for patent, Ser. No. 536,042, filing date Sept. 26, 1983, teaches a method of setting hair using a setting composition containing an aminoalkyl substituted polydimethylsiloxane and tetraalkyltitanates. The siloxane does not contain silanol or potential silanol functionality so that it cannot cure by the silanol condensation reaction utilized in earlier compositions. Instead it is believed to cure by an interaction of the titanate with the amino groups of the siloxane polymer. The cured composition is said to maintain a set in hair even when exposed to high atmospheric humidity but upon direct contact with water the interaction of amine and titanate is broken down and the set is thus removed from the hair.
U.S. application for patent, Ser. No. 595,224, filing date Mar. 30, 1984, teaches that an emulsion containing an aminoalkyl substituted polydimethylsiloxane is useful as a hair conditioner because it facilitates combing and imparts a smooth feel to hair. This application does not teach or suggest that the emulsion of aminoalkyl substituted polydimethylsiloxane could be used in a method of setting hair to increase the length of time a set is retained in hair.
It is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,248,296 to treat hair with an epoxidized organosiloxane after the hair has undergone a permanent wave treatment (rearrangement of disulfide bonds). The siloxane treated hair is said to retain its shape under more severe conditions than permanent waved but untreated hair.